Raw milk Farmhouse Cheddar with green peppercorns and liquid smoke, milk from a Jersey Holstein cross (Bubbles). She is being fed local grass hay and local silage.
Made in April 2017, It's still quite young.
Technically, this cheese was a bit of a failure. I allowed it to get quite warm while the whey was draining, and I thought I had mucked it up.
I took it out of the Vac Bag today to check it out and dispose of it if it had failed.
Surprisingly, it has held up OK. The paste is firm and just crumbly enough and the taste has good sharpness. This one is really creamy, and should be great after a year of aging.
There is absolutely no detectable smoke flavour, I was WAY too conservative here.
The peppercorns are also underpowered, they have added almost nothing to the flavour of the cheese, though they do look quite nice.
Despite my original fears, this cheese has come the closest to a traditional cheddar of any I have made so far. The texture in particular was very pleasing. This and the creaminess of this particular cheese makes me regret I'm not set up for natural rinds. This one would really benefit from some proper cave ageing.
